


Thirteen Ways of Looking at Coffee

by lucianlibrarian



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Coffee, Feels, Fluff, Friendship, Ignoct if you squint, Inspired by Poetry, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23472853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucianlibrarian/pseuds/lucianlibrarian
Summary: A spin on Wallace Stevens's"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird", exploring the role coffee plays in the lives of the Chocobros and others.
Relationships: Clarus Amicitia & Regis Lucis Caelum, Gladiolus Amicitia & Noctis Lucis Caelum, Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia, Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14
Collections: NaPoWriMo 2020





	Thirteen Ways of Looking at Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> NaPoWriMo Day #3! Based on a prompt from [MissMayhem](https://twitter.com/MissMayhem16), who suggested a poem about Ebony or coffee.

1.

It begins with a rubber bug  
Down the child-prince’s collar.  
Revenge: replace the cocoa.  
Coffee becomes  
Ignis’s new favorite drink.

2.

Clarus sets coffee before Regis,  
Wonders if his friend knows  
It’s been decaf for over two years.

3.

Crownsguard mornings: one-mile run, weapons drills,  
A cup of coffee with the Marshal.

4.

On a dare, Noctis chugs  
A large bottle of iced coffee before training.  
Gladio wears the bruises for a month.

5.

Ignis experiments.  
Automatic drip.  
Percolator. Cold brew.  
Pour-over. Aeropress.  
Ebony wins because it is good  
And convenient.  
If time is no object, pour-over  
Using fresh-ground beans.  
Time, however, is as much an object  
As coffee, and he can count on one hand  
How many have let him partake.

6.

Black coffee is not the royal beverage.

7.

The one dish Noctis always keeps clean in his cupboard  
Is a white mug painted with childish stars, glasses,  
_IGNIS + NOCTIS = BEST FRIENDS!!!  
_When he deigns to have coffee,  
This is the cup he uses.

8.

Contrary to popular belief,  
Ardyn does not drink his coffee black.  
His cup is always loaded with enough  
Sugar to sludge the bottom.

9.

Prompto prefers green tea;  
Coffee, cut to pale with milk, is a taste  
He acquires on the road because he must.

10.

Luna writes that coffee is a luxury,  
Controlled by the Empire. As the Oracle,  
She has access but chooses not to use it.  
What need has she of more bitterness?

11.

Sometimes, when he can’t sleep,  
Noctis gets up early. Makes coffee.  
Pours an extra cup into the earth for his father.

12.

Ignis keeps a sachet of coffee beans  
pinned in his jacket, another in his pillow.  
When he can’t get the scent of death out  
His nostrils, he breathes deep, thinks  
Of Noct’s half-grin hidden behind that mug,  
Tempered by his need to drink coffee,  
Be cool, be an adult, grow up too fast.

13.

 _I don’t know which I prefer,_ Gladio says,  
_The anticipation of that first sip of coffee  
__Or the moment after._

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: [@lucianlibrarian](https://twitter.com/lucianlibrarian)  
> Discord: starryfox#7213


End file.
